@BonePen Thanks for the #AMAZING #artwork. So #excited!! pic.twitter.com/qxXmOqKAmC
— GrampzIsGaming (@GrampzIsGaming) April 25, 2013
Archive for April, 2013
As previously mentioned, I was asked and volunteered to review an eBook from Packt Publishing titled, “Instant Minecraft Designs How To” by Mephisto Waltz.
This was day 2 and I want to start off by sharing something I learned years ago when working with computers. If you find yourself confused or getting frustrated it is often better to just step away from a day or two so your mind can clear and comeback later. Following that advice I had much better success on Day 2.
Beginning where I left off I was able to finishing the Tudor Style structure and just below are a few images of the finished work.
The book was created to teach someone how to use VoxelSniper and WorldEdit. I can tell you WorldEdit seemed to be the most useful in my opinion. VoxelSniper, at least for the first couple of designs, seemed to have little value and quite honestly was a pain to get installed and working correctly due to the recent upgrades from Minecraft 1.4.7 to 1.5.1
The book was originally written with 1.4.7 as the example and as with any software that is constantly evolving (which is a good thing for all of us) there can be problems when new versions come out and either the plugin upgrades are not available yet or in this particular case there was three different instructions and possibilities to install VoxelSniper on the server, but only one actually worked (see my other blog here on the right way to do it).
But I digress. So coming from a total noob to the admin, craftbukkit, and plugins world I will say that after I got everything sorted out I was able to get the structure built with a lot less frustration. The word “Instant” in the title could be a bit deceiving, because honestly I didn’t find anything very instant, but this was just a starting place to learn how to use plugins such as WorldEdit to assist people in making builds.
On my first try while learning how to use the plugins, I found that I could have built the structures in creative almost as fast as trying to learn how to do it using WorldEdit, however once I went through the steps a few times I realized how valuable WorldEdit could be especially if you are creating a multiplayer server and you want to create a spawnpoint city.
On a rating system I would probably give the book a 4 out of 5 stars mainly because the timing of the book being published after Minecraft 1.4.7 had been replaced by 1.5.1. Also, I wished and thought based on the title that there would be more great designs to follow along with in the book, but again, I have only finsihed 1-1/2 projects (there are 4 projects total in the book).
The last two projects which include building a Pagoda and a Futuristic City both look awesome and are quite complex. If you want a great spawnpoint for a new multiplayer server world then the Futuristic City design might do nicely.
There is still a lot to explore in the book and trust me it does take time especially for someone who has never used these tools before, but if you want to learn how to build these designs and use WorldEdit and VoxelSniper to speed up the process then this book will be right for you. For my money though I would purchase the less expensive eBook or PDF rather than the more expensive print book.
Now I will just leave you with a quick video of my final creation.
Instant Minecraft Designs – Server Install – Save Yourself Some Time and a Headache
Posted: April 24, 2013 in ReviewsI was asked and volunteered to review an eBook from Packt Publishing titled, “Instant Minecraft Designs How To” by Mephisto Waltz.
Due to the fact that Minecraft and more specifically CraftBukkit had been updated to 1.5.1 and the book was written using 1.4.7 I had a few issues installing the server and plugins.
First off, in the book the instructions say to use the author’s website found here for server installation instructions. On the site there is a new video titled, “Minecraft Server Install Guide Video” and while the video is very useful and instructional if you try to install the VoxelSniper plugin for the server from the link provided you will get an error when starting the server and wonder why. The first day trying to install the server this one misstep cost me hours or wasted time when I could have been going through the materials.
To successfully install the server to follow along with the book, at the bottom of the author’s website on the home page you should see the following image and click the “Learn More” for a successful, one time, and frustration free install.
After clicking learn more, if you go to Step 3 you will find direct links to all the downloads needed for a successful server install. For time sake and to help others out I will post the links below as well.
Download VoxelSniper Server Plugin
Download WorldEdit Server Plugin
Cheers and Happy Building!
I was asked and volunteered to review an eBook from Packt Publishing titled, “Instant Minecraft Designs How To” by Mephisto Waltz.
First, I want to start off by saying that I have always considered myself a survivalist when it comes to Minecraft, rather than a builder, but I have always been fascinated and wanted to learn how people come up with great designs. Second, I just started joining multiplayer servers the first of this year and have always wondered how the admins use plugins to create these marvelous structures.
So on that preface here we go …
Okay, I am struggling with the review right now after spending nearly all day this past Saturday trying to get everything installed, started, and going. I really want to give a good review, but right now I need a little more assistance than just what the eBook has provided.
Here are a couple of issues I found.
1. When following the video to install World Edit and VoxelSniper on the CraftBukkit found on the author’s website he tells us to choose the proper Java version to install based on your PC’s requirements (time code 3:13). My PC has Java 7 32bit x86, but when I chose that option with BukkitGUI and started the server VoxelSniper would not work. I eventually went back and selected Java 7 64bit (quite by accident) just as in the instructions and VoxelSniper worked correctly. Not sure what the issue is here but I know my operating system in only 32bit so that may be in a bug in BukkitGUI, but it cost me about 2 hours before I could actually start using the tutorials.
2. In regards to WorldEdit CUI after installing and starting up the server (CraftBukkit 1.5.1 beta) I received an error message that WorldEdit CUI is out of date even though I downloaded the recommended version by the author. At first it did not work, but then after about 10 mins I could see the outline of the selection so even though I received the error message it appears to work. Just a little confusing.
3. On the Tudor house design (the one called Simple) I got to step 1 at the bottom of page 12 of the eBook that says, “1. Using the Wooden Axe, left-click to select the corner block of the house that is between the bottom of the windows and the floor.” I tried over and over to figure out which block the author was referring to with no success. I would like to continue the tutorial but unfortunately had to stop here. An image would have been nice in this instance just to make sure we were selecting the correct area.
I did get about half way through the Airship design but by then was just too tired to continue.
I enjoyed learning a little of what I could about WorldEdit and SniperVoxel, and would like to continue on, but need a little advice from perhaps someone more familiar with the system. By the way, while WorldEdit CUI is a nice addition that lets you know exactly what is selected it is not necessary to complete the tutorials since WorldEdit is actually what does the work. I found WorldEdit CUI extremely useful though while trying to work on the Airship to ensure I had actually selected all the blocks I thought I was selecting. A few times I found my calculations were off and because of WorldEdit CUI I could see that before actually going through with the commands.
More to come later on the next session!
Wither Boss Fight #4: The Withering Nights: Noxious Seas – Underwater Mineshaft/Underwater Dome Battle
Wither Boss Fight #3: Withering Heights – Sky Platform/Extreme Hills Battle
Wither Boss Fight #2: Midnight Blight – Stormy Night Battle – No night vision pots
The Withering Nights
The Wrektopia server that I am apart of is hosting a series of Wither Boss Fights April 8-14, 2013.
- Wither Fight #1: Wither This Way Comes – Old School Battle – No enchanted weapons/armor/tools nor potions.
- Wither Fight #2: Midnight Blight – Stormy Night Battle – No night vision pots
- Wither Fight #3: Withering Heights – Sky Platform/Extreme Hills Battle
- Wither Fight #4: Noxious Seas – Underwater Mineshaft/Underwater Dome Battle
- Wither Fight #5: Wither & Wilt – Jungle Battle
- Wither Fight #6: The Withering Source – The Nether Battle.
- Wither Final #7: The Wither’s End – The End Battle: 2 Withers at the same time.
This event is the brainchild of Wrektopian Moderator ScrappyOutlaw, each daily event theme a collaboration of Scrappy, richardSebrewer and Wrekking. All of these fights will occur in the main world of Wrektopia and the Wrektopian Nether. Creeperheal will be turned off, and each location will be in unused portions of the explored map of Wrektopia. What this means is if you want to build around one of these areas, there will be preexisting, permanent damage to the map thanks to the Wither Battles.
The wither skulls being provided have been acquired by ScrappyOutlaw. She requests that whoever acquires the Nether Star from each battle give her the star. Everyone who attends these will receive a gift, and one person from each event will be randomly chosen to receive a star themselves. The gifts will range from enchanted books to diamond blocks. Enchanted book gifts will not include any of the Bane of Arthropods enchantments (unless upon request.)
We’re planning to start this event next Monday, April 8th, beginning around 7PM EST. If you can’t make the initial fights we will be running this a second time for those that miss out the first time around.
Here is a YouTube video of the first round: Wither This Way Comes – Old School Battle
Minecraft Times 